Piet's Summary

Thank you all, Rod, Maria, Nicole, Jake, Miles, and Frank, for participating in this first cycle of the WoK Practice Intensive. In the three months that the WoK Experiment has been running, we've covered a lot of ground, looking at the working hypothesis from many different angles. Now that we have doubled the number of volunteers, and have started a daily form of practice, our explorations no doubt will move in new and different directions. I'm excited about all these developments, and I'm curious to see what type of terrain we will encounter.

While doing my lab and field work, I found it very stimulating to know that six others were doing the same type of work, as part of a concerted effort to explore the working hypothesis. We have borrowed the methodology of the working hypothesis from science. Similarly, we are borrowing the scientific notion of a community of peers, who compare notes while investigating a shared field of study. So even though I have been writing lab and field reports for myself for some sixteen years now, with relatively few interruptions, this last week had a distinctly fresh flavor, knowing that six friends were sharing the game.

Writing a weekly summary is a great challenge. It is easy to write a few hundred words each morning in a lab report, and even more in the evening in a field report, with the result of winding up with 5,000 to 10,000 words, the size of a scientific article of ten to twenty pages, or more. This week, I'll limit myself to reporting one useful idea that I got, Friday morning, and that I have been working with since.

It occurred to me that I could use my breath as a support to balance two ways of looking at phenomena. During each inhalation, I would treat all inner and outer phenomena in the ordinary way: viewing things around me as solid, treating memories and anticipations as really pertaining to a time continuum in which I am situated, and so on. But during each exhalation, I would view the phenomena as just forms of sheer appearance, without focusing on what their seductive pull would tell me that they stood for. To take the analogy of a painting, while inhaling I would focus on the painting and while exhaling I would focus on the paint.

I did that during my lab practice session, and then also a number of times during the day. It turned out to be a rather effective tool, helping me to connect back to the working hypothesis, while walking on the street, sometimes even while in the midst of busy activities, including talking with others. It had a remarkably calming and connecting effect, like spreading oil on the waves of daily activities. If anyone else were to try this, I'd be curious to hear whether it was a useful trick for him or her too.